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ZDNET's takeaways
- Privacy-centric messaging app Signal has a connection backup option.
- The escaped tier stores up to 45 days of messages.
- You tin wage $1.99 a period if you privation to store much than 45 days.
Signal is offering its first-ever backup option.
In a station Monday, the security-focused messaging app institution announced a caller diagnostic that lets you backmost up your messages for free.
In the past, Signal explained, if you mislaid your phone, your Signal past was mislaid too. If you person important conversations similar photos, messages from friends, it's casual to spot however that tin beryllium frustrating.
That's wherefore Signal is giving you a mode to get those messages back.
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The caller diagnostic is called Secure Backups. It refreshes each time and lets you prevention your conversations successful an end-to-end encrypted "privacy-preserving form," Signal said. Secure Backups are opt-in. If you don't privation to usage the feature, you don't person to. However, whoever you're chatting with could beryllium utilizing the feature, truthful your messages whitethorn beryllium saved successful their retention adjacent if you opt out.
You get 100MiB of retention for escaped and tin backmost up and entree your erstwhile 45 days of messages and media astatine immoderate time. Signal noted that messages are compressed erstwhile archived, truthful the escaped retention should beryllium capable for the bulk of users. If you privation to spell beyond 45 days, you tin utilize a paid program that's $1.99 a period – the company's first-ever paid feature.
The institution explained that it waited until present to rotation retired a paid diagnostic due to the fact that media requires a batch of storage, and storing and transferring ample amounts of information is expensive. Signal added that, "as a nonprofit that refuses to cod oregon merchantability your data," it has to screen those costs successful a antithetic mode (not selling ads oregon monetizing data).
How unafraid is Signal Secure Backups?
Signal said that a 64-character betterment cardinal is astatine the halfway of your backup security. This cardinal is ne'er shared with Signal's servers, and it's the lone mode to "unlock" your backup if you request to bash so. If you suffer that key, your backups are gone for bully arsenic well. Signal recommends penning this cardinal down oregon storing it successful a unafraid password manager.
To instrumentality information a measurement further, backups are stored without a nonstop nexus to the idiosyncratic relationship oregon to a circumstantial backup payment.
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All of this means that Signal is staying existent to its privacy-first ngo but inactive adding features radical person travel to expect from messaging apps.
Secure backups are disposable for users of the latest beta mentation of the app connected Android now. Access connected each different platforms is coming soon.
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